THOMAS COLE was born in Jackson Co., Alabama, on the 8th of August,
1845, a slave of Robert Cole. He ran away in 1861 to join the Union
Army. He fought at Chickamauga, under Gen. Rosecran and at Chattanooga,
Look Out Mt. and Orchard Knob, under Gen. Thomas. After the war he
worked as switchman in Chattanooga until his health failed due to old
age. He then Came to Texas and lives with his daughter, in Corsicana.
Thomas is blind

"I might as well begin far back as I remember and tell you
all about myself. I was born over in Jackson County, in Alabama, on
August 8, 1845. My mother was Elizabeth Cole, her bein' a slave of
Robert Cole, and my father was Alex Gerrand, 'cause he was John
Gerrand's slave. I was sposed to take my father's name, but he was sech
a bad, ornery, no count sech a human, I jes' taken my old massa's name.
My mother was brung from Virginny by Massa Dr. Cole, and she nussed all
his six chillen. My sister's name was Sarah and my brother's name was
Ben and we lived in one room of the big house, and allus had a good bed
to sleep in and good things to eat at the same table, after de white
folks gits through.

"I played with Massa Cole's chillen all de time, and when I
got older he started me workin' by totin' wood and sech odd jobs, and
feedin' de hawgs. Us chillen had to pick cotton every fall. De big
baskets weigh about seventy-five to a hundred pounds, but us chillen put
our pickin's in some growed slave's basket. De growed slaves was jes'
like a mule. He work for grub and clothes, and some of dem didn't have
as easier a time as a mule, for mules was fed good and slaves was
sometimes half starved.

But Massa Cole was a smart man and a good man with it. He had 'spect
for the slaves' feelin's and didn't treat dem like dumb brutes, and
'lowed dem more privileges dan any other slaveholder round dere. He was
one of de best men I ever knows in my whole life and his wife was jes'
like him. Dey had a bit, four-room log house with a big hall down the
center up and down. De loge was all peeled and de chinkin' a diff'rent
color from de logs and covered with beads. De kitchen am 3 one-room
house behin' de big house with de big chimney to cook on. Dat where all
de meals cooked and carry to de house.

"In winter massa allus kill from three to four hundred hawgs,
de two killin's he done in November and January. Some kill and stick,
some scald and scrape, and some dress dem and cut dem up and render de
lard. Dey haul plenty hick'ry wood to de smokehouse and de men works in
shifts to keep de smoke fire goin' sev'ral days, den hangs de meat in de
meathouse. First us eat all de chitlin's, den massa begin issuin'
cut-back bones to each fam'ly, and den 'long come de spareribs, den de
middlin' or a shoulder, and by dat time he kill de second time and dis
was to go all over 'gain. Each fam'ly git de same kind of meat each
week. Iffen one git a ham, dey all git a ham. All de ears and feet was
pickle and we eats dem, too. If de meat run out 'fore killin' time, us
git wild turkeys or kill a beef or a goat, or git a deer.

"Massa let us plant pumpkins and have a acre or two for
watermelons, iffen us work dem on Saturday evenin's. Dere a orchard of
'bout five or six acres peaches and apples and he 'low us to have
biscuits once a week. Yes, we had good eatin' and plenty of it den

"Massa had one big, stout, healthy lookin' slave 'bout six
foot, four inches tall, what he pay $3,000 for. He bought six slaves I
knows of and give from $400 up for dem. He never sold a slave 'less he
git unruly.

"Massa allus give us cotton clothes for summer and wool for
winter, 'cause he raised cotton and sheep. Den each fam'ly have some
chickens and sell dem and de eggs and maybe go huntin' and sell de hides
and git some money. Den us buy what am Sunday clothes with dat money,
sech as hats and pants and shoes and dresses.

"We'd git up early every day in de year, rain or shine, hot
or cold. A slave blowed de horn and dere no danger of you not wakin' up
when dat blowed long and loud. He climb up on a platform 'bout ten feet
tall to blow dat bugle. We'd work till noon and eat in de shade and rest
'bout a hour or a little more iffen it hot, but only a hour if it cold.
You is allus tired when you makes de day like dat on de plantation and
you can't play all night like de young folks does now. But us lucky,
'cause Massa Cole don't whip us. De man what have a place next ours, he
sho' whip he slaves. He have de cato-nine tails of rawhide leather
platted round a piece of wood for a handle. De wood 'bout ten inches
long and de leather braided on past de stock quite a piece, and 'bout a
foot from dat all de strips tied in a knot and sprangle out, and makes
de tassel. Dis am call de cracker and it am what split de hide. Some
folks call dem bullwhips, 'stead of cat-o-nine tails. De first thing dat
man do when he buy a slave, am give him de whippin'. He call it puttin'
de fear of Gawd in him.

"Massa Cole 'low us read de Bible. He awful good 'bout dat.
Most de slave owners wouldn't 'low no sech. Uncle Dan he read to us and
on Sunday we could go to church. De preacher baptize de slaves in de
river. Dat de good, old-time 'ligion, and us all go to shoutin' and has
a good time. Dis gen'ration too dig'fied to have de old-time 'ligion.

"When baptizin' comes off, it almost like goin' to de circus.
People come from all over and dey all singin' songs and everybody take
dere lunch and have de good time. Massa Cole went one time and den he
git sick, and next summer he die. Missy Cole, she moves to Buntsville,
in Alabama. But she leave me on de plantation, 'cause I'm big and stout
den. She takes my mother to cook and dat de lest time I ever seed my
mother. Missy Cole buys de fine house in Huntsville my mother tells me
to be good and do all de overseer tells me. I told her goodbye and she
never did git to come back to see me, and I never seed her and my
brother and sister 'gain. I don't know whether dey an sold or not.

"I thinks to myself, dat Mr. Anderson, de overseer, he'll
give me dat cat-o-nine tails de first chance he gits, but makes up my
mind he won't git de chance, 'cause I's gwine run off de first chance I
gits. I didn't know how to git out of dere, but I's gwine north where
dere ain't no slaveowners. In a year or so dere am 'nother overseer, Mr.
Sandson, and he give me de log house and de gal to do my cookin' and
sich. Dere am war talk and we 'gins gwine to de field earlier and stayin'
later. Corn am haul off, cotton am haul off, hawgs and cattle am rounded
up and haul off and things 'gins lookin' bad. De war am on, but us don't
see none of it. But 'stead of eatin' cornbread, us eats bread out of
kaffir corn and maize. "e raises lots of okra and dey say it gwine
be parch and grind to make coffee for white folks. Dat didn't look good
either. Dat winter, 'stead of killin' three or four hundred hawgs like
we allus done befo', we only done one killin' of a hundred seventy-five,
and dey not all big ones, neither. When de meat supply runs low, Mr.
Sandson sends some slaves to kill a deer or wild hawgs or jes' any kind
of game. He never sends me in any dem bunches but I hoped he would and
one day he calls me to go and says not to go off de plantation too far,
but be sho' bring home some meat. Dis de chance I been wantin', so when
we gits to de huntin' ground de leader says to scatter out, and I tells
him me and 'nother man goes north and make de circle round de river and
meet 'bout sundown. I crosses de river and goes north. I's gwine to de
free country, where dey ain't no slaves. I travels all dat day and night
up de river and follows de north star. Sev'ral times I thunk de blood
houn's am trailin' me and I gits in de big hurry. I's so tired I
couldn't hardly move, but I gits in a trot.

"I's hopin' and prayin' all de time I meets up with dat
Harriet Tubman woman. She de cullud women what takes slaves to Canada.
She allus travels de underground railroad, dey calls it, travels at
night and hides out in de day. She sho' sneaks dem out de South and I
thinks she's de brave woman.

""I's hopin' and prayin' all de time I meets up with dat
Harriet Tubman woman. She de cullud women what takes slaves to Canada.
She allus travels de underground railroad, dey calls it, travels at
night and hides out in de day. She sho' sneaks dem out de South and I
thinks she's de brave woman.

You ain't gwine take me back to de plantation, is you?' Dey says,
'No. Does you want to fight for de North?' I says I will. 'cause dey
talks like northern men. Us walk night and day and gits in Gen.
Rosecran's camp and dey thunk I's de spy from de South. Dey asks me all
sorts of questions and says dey'll whip me if I didn't tell dem what I's
spyin' 'tout. Fin'ly dey 'lieves me and puts me to work helpin' with de
cannons. I feels 'portant den, but I didn't know what was in front of
me, or I 'spects I'd run off 'gain.

"I helps sot dem cannons on dis Chickamauga Mountain, in
hidin' places, I has to go with a man and wait on him and dat cannon.
First thing I knows, bang, bang, boom, things has started, and guns am
shootin' fester dan you can think, and I looks round for de way to run.
But dem guns am shootin' down de hill in front of me and shootin' at me,
and over me and on both sides of me. I tries to dig me a hole and git in
it. All dis happen right now, and first thing I knows, de man am kickin'
me and wantin' me to help him keep dat cannon loaded. Man, I didn't want
no cannon, but I has to help anyway. We fit till dark and de Rebels got
more men dan us, so Gen. Rosecran sends de message to Gen. Woods to come
help us out. When de messenger slips off, I sho' wish it am me slippin'
off, but I didn't want to see no Gen. Woods. I jes' wants to git back to
dat old plantation and pick more cotton. I'd been willin' to do mos'
anything to git out that mess, but I done told Gen. Rosecran I wants to
fight de Rebels and he sho' was lettin' me do it. He wasn't jes' lettin'
me do it, he was makin' me do it. I done got in dere and he wouldn't let
me out.

"White folks, dere was men layin' wantin' help, wantin'
water, with blood runnin' out dem and de top or sides dere heads gone,
great big holes in dem. I jes' promises de good Lawd if he jes' let me
git out dat mess, I wouldn't run off no more, but I didn't know den he
wasn't gwine let me out with jes' dat battle.

He gwine give me plenty more, but dat battle ain't over yet, for
nex' mornin' de Rebels 'gins shootin' and killin' lots of our men, and
Gen. Woods ain't come. so Gen. Rosecran orders us to 'treat, and didn't
have to tell me what he said, neither. De Rebels comes after us, shootin',
and we runs off and leaves dat cannon what I was with settin' on de
hill, and I didn't want dat thing nohow.

"We kep' hotfootin' till we gits to Chattanooga and dere is
where we stops. Here comes one dem Rebel generals with de big bunch of
men and gits right on top of Look Out Mountain, right close to
Chattanooga, and wouldn't let us out. I don't know jes' how long, but a
long time. Lots our hosses and mules starves to death and we eats some
de hosses. We all like to starve to death ourselves. Chattanooga is in
de bend de Tennessee River and on Look Out Mountain, on de east, am dem
Rebels and could keep up with everything we done. After a long time a
Gen. Thomas gits in some way. He finds de rough trail or wagon road
round de mountain 'long de river and supplies and men com s by boat up
de river to dis place and comes on into Chattanooga. More Union men kep'
comin' and I guess maybe six or eight generals and dey gits ready to
fight. It am long late in Fall or early winter.

"Dey starts climbin' dis steep mountain and when us gits
three-fourths de way up it am foggy and you couldn't see no place.
Everything wet and de rocks am slick and dey 'gins fightin'. I 'spect
some shoots dere own men, 'cause you couldn't see nothin', jes' men
runnin' and de guns roarin'. Fin'ly dem Rebels fled and we gits on Look
Out Mountain and takes it.

Dere a long range of hills leadin' 'way from Look Out Mountain,
nearly to Missionary Ridge. Dis ridge 'longside de Chickamauga river,
what am de Indian name, meanin' River of Death. Dey lights de Rebels on
Orchard Knob hill and I wasn't in dat, but I's in de Missionary Ridge
battle. We has to come out de timber and run 'cross a strip or openin'
up de hill. Dey sho' kilt lots our men when we runs 'cross dat openin'.
We runs for all we's worth and uses guns or anything we could. De Rebels
turns and runs off and our soldiers turns de cannons round what we's
capture. and kilt some de Rebels with dere own guns.

"I never did git to where I wasn't scart when we goes into de
battle. Dis de last one I's in and I's sho' glad, for I never seed de
like of dead and wounded men. We picks dem up, de Rebels like de Unions,
and doctors dem de bes' we could. When I seed all dat sufferin', I hopes
I never lives to see 'nother war. Dey say de World War am worse but I's
too old to go.

"I sho' wishes lots of times I never run off from de
plantation. I begs de General not to send me on any more battles, and he
says I's de coward and sympathizes with de South. But I tells him I jes'
couldn't stand to see all dem men layin' dere dyin' and hollerin' and
beggin' for help and a drink of water, and blood everywhere you looks.
Killin' hawgs back on de plantation didn't bother me none, but dis am
diff'rent.

"Fin'ly de General tells me I can go back to Chattanooga and
guard de supplies in camp dere end take care de wounded soldiers and
prisoners. A bunch of men is with me and we has all we can do. We gits
de orders to send supplies to some general and it my job to help load de
wagons or box cars or boats. A train of wagons leaves sometimes. We gits
all dem supplies by boat, and Chattanooga am de 'stributing center. When
winter comes, everybody rests awhile and waits for Spring to open. De
Union general sends in some more cullud soldiers. Dere ain't been many
cullud men but de las' year de war dere am lots. De North and de South
am takin' anything dey can git to win de war.

"When Spring breaks and all de snow am gone, and de trees
'gins puttin' out and everything 'gins to look purty and peaceable-like,
makin' you think you ought to be plowin' and plantin' a crop, dat when
de fightin' starts all over 'gain, killin' men and burnin' homes and
stealin' stock and food. Den dey sends me out to help clear roads and
build temp'rary bridges. We walks miles on muddy ground, 'cross rivers,
wadin' water up to cur chins. We builds rafts and pole bridges to git de
mules and hosses and cannons 'cross, and up and down hills, and cuts
roads through timber.

"But when dey wants to battle Gen. Thomas allus leaves me in
come to tend de supplies. He calls me a coward, and I sho' glad he thunk
I was. I wasn't no coward, I jes' couldn't stand to see all dem people
tore to pieces. I hears 'bout de battle in a thick forest and de trees
big as my body jes' shot down. I seed dat in de Missionary Ridge battle,
too.

"I shifts from one camp to 'nother and fin'ly gits back to
Chattanooga. I bet durin' my time I handles 'nough ammunition to kill
everybody in de whole United States. I seed mos' de meanest generals in
de Union Army and some in de Rebel Army.

"After de war am over we's turned loose, nowhere to go and
nobody to help us. I couldn't go South, for dey calls me de traitor and
sho' kill me iffen dey knows I fit for de North. I does any little job I
can git for 'bout a year and fin'ly gits work on de railroad, in
Stevenson, in Alabama. I gits transfer to Chattanooga and works layin'
new tracks and turn tables and sich.

"In 'bout two weeks I had saw a gal next door, but I's
bashful. But after payday I dresses up and takes her to a dance. We
sparks 'bout two months and den we's married at her uncles. Her name am
Nancy. We buys a piece of land and I has a two-room house built on it.
We has two chillen and I's livin' with de baby gal now.

"I 'lieve de slaves I knowed as a whole was happier and
better off after 'mancipation dan befo'. Of course, de first few years
it was awful hard to git 'justed to de new life. All de slaves knowed
how to do hard work, and dat de old slaves life, but dey didn't know
nothin' 'bout how to 'pend on demselves for de livin'. My first year was
hard, but dere was plenty wild game in dem days. De south was broke and
I didn't hear of no slaves gittin' anything but to crop on de halves.
Dey too glad to be free and didn't want nothin'.

"Things 'gin to git bad for me in Chattanooga as de white men
finds out I run off from de South and jined de North. Some de brakemen
try to git my job. I fin'ly quits when one of dem opens a switch I jus'
closed. I seed him and goes back and fixes de switch, but I quits de
job. I goes up north but dey ain't int'rested, so I comes back and sells
my home and buys me a team and wagon. I loads it with my wife and
chillen and a few things and starts for Texas. We's on de road 'bout six
weeks or two months. We fishes and hunts every day and de trip didn't
cost much. I buys ninety acres in timber in Cast County and cuts logs
for a house and builds a two-room house and log crib. My wife built a
stomp lot for de team and cow and a rail fence.

"We got 'nough land cleared for de small crop. 'bout thirty
acres, and builds de barn and sheds ourselves. We lived there till de
chillen am growed. My wife died of chills and fever and den my boy and I
built a four-room house of planks from our timber. Den I gits lonesome,
'cause de chillen gone. and sells de place. I bought it for fifty cents
de acre and sold it for $12.00 de acre.

"I buys sixty acres in Henderson County for $15.00 a acre and
marries de second time. I didn't care for her like Nancy. All she think
'bout as raisin' de devil and never wants to work or save anything. She
like to have broke me down befo' I gits rid of her. I stayed and farmed
sev'ral years.

"My son-in-law rents land in Chambers Creek bottom, and he
usually gits he crop 'fore de flood gits it. We has some hawgs to kill
ev'ry winter and we has our cornmeal and milk and eggs and chickens, so
de 'pression ain't starved us yit. We all got might' nigh naked durin'
de 'pression. I feeds de hawgs and chickens night and mornin'. I can't
see dem, but I likes to listen to dem eatin' and cackle. People don't
know how dey's blessed with good eyes, till dey loses dem. Everybody
ought to be more thankful dan they is.

"I ain't never voted in my life. I leans to de 'publicans. I
don't know much 'bout politics, though.

"Today I is broke, 'cause I spent all my money for med'cine
and doctors, but I gits a small pension and I spends it mos' careful.